Agents of Chaos
by b0rnsick
Summary: In October of 1996, a promising Irish wizard is murdered in Muggle Belfast. His family will make sure that it can never happen again - no matter the cost.


**_17th October 1996_**

As the October evening sun disappeared beneath the country manor's four large turrets, four cloaked figures emerged from the dark green doors with hoods concealing their faces. Although it was not a particularly cold evening, the four huddled together as they shuffled toward the edge of the large lake which was around 50 feet away. Already waiting at the lake was a tall, heavyset figure, also cloaked although a long greying beard stuck out from his robes. Sat next to him was a large and ornately decorated wooden boat, tethered to a metal post. In the middle of the boat sat a long rectangular box, draped in dark velvet, surrounded by benches on each side. The man lowered his hood as the foursome approached, warmly embracing each of them in turn before removing a large book, bound in ageing black leather, from his robes.

"It is good to see you all again – I only wish it were under better circumstances. Shall we begin?" He asked in a kind Irish accent, smiling at the shortest of the three reassuringly. A look was shared between the four then they removed their hoods, revealing a young bearded man with dark hair and eyes, two younger women – one with blonde hair and one with dark red – and an older, frail-looking women who was trembling with each breath, prompting the man to rest his hand on the small of her back.

"Thank you, Minister, we too wish it were under happier circumstances. It would be best to begin soon," the man replied, also in an Irish accent, guiding the woman toward the boat. The Minister smiled sadly and turned to face the boat, opening the book in his arms as he did. He began chanting a passage from the open book, the group behind him bowing their heads whilst the fragile woman sobbed quietly.

"In peace may you leave the shore, in love may you find the next," the group said together at the end of the passage, voices shaking slightly. A moment passed whilst the Minister blessed the boat before helping the woman into it. Once everyone was seated, the boat was untethered and slowly drifted toward the centre of the large lake where there was a small island covered in tall trees. The foursome sat silently as the Minister quietly read from his book aloud, only speaking where required.

Soon enough, the boat arrived at the island where the occupants made their way to a small clearing in the middle of the woods. There, they were greeted by a small but solemn looking congregation, some of whom were unfamiliar to the dark-haired young man and the younger women from the boat. The foursome soon found themselves standing in front of an elaborately carved headstone which read:

 _IN LOVING MEMORY OF_

 _FERGAL RIORDAN DEVITT_

 _1st March 1937 - 9th June 1994_

 _Father, husband, son and brother_

 _AND_

 _FERGAL RIORDAN DEVITT JR._

 _29th October 1967 - 10th October 1996_

 _Beloved son, brother and friend_

Clearing his throat, the Minister gestured to the crowd.

"Let us begin." The crowd, as one, sunk to one knee, heads bowed at this signal. "Gathered friends, brothers and sisters, tonight we celebrate the life and memory of Fergal Devitt Jr., who was prematurely taken from us all just seven days ago. I, on behalf of Fergal's mother Lilith, his sisters and brother Violet, Rhea and Finn, thank you for your attendance here this evening." The Minister then continued to speak, reading aloud a few passages from his book. Meanwhile, the large rectangular box made it's way from the boat to the clearing, silently sailing over the bowed heads before coming to a rest in front of the older woman, Lilith. "Could four volunteers please approach the grave?"

The young man, Finn, rose, having known that he would be doing so prior to this evening and was relieved when he turned to the others assembled and saw the familiar head of red hair belonging to his cousin, Connacht, and the shaved head of his brother, Xander. He was somewhat surprised though to see an unfamiliar blonde man also make his way to the grave a few steps behind them. He heard the Minister ask him to remove his brother's wand from his robes and did so silently, handing it to him gently, bowing his head slightly as he did so. A tear welled at the corner of his eye as the bearded man placed the wand onto the top of the coffin, casting a charm to permanently affix the wand to the lid so that it wouldn't move. "Gentlemen, if you would." At this, Finn and the other men removed their own wands from their holsters and took one of the cords attached to the coffin in hand, awaiting further instruction. The Minister began chanting a spell quietly, making practised motions with his own wand over Fergal's coffin which the four men joined in after five repetitions, as was the ritual. The coffin began to descend into the earth, making contact with the bottom of the grave with a very soft 'thud'. Finn, his cousins and the mystery blonde gentleman kneeled and bowed their heads once more, speaking the end of the passage together clearly: "Safe passage on your travels until our final journey on the ground. May we meet again."

"May we meet again," the crowd echoed. Whilst his cousins and himself all had a strong Irish accent, the unknown man had a softer English accent. 'Explains why I didn't recognise him, probably someone Fergal knew from work,' Finn reasoned as he went back to join his mother and sisters, who were openly crying - his mother's body shook with sobs even as Violet hugged her tight, all while her own body was trembling as she wept. Rhea only allowed a few silent tears to leak from the corner of her eyes, although she was not trying to hide her emotions for once. Sensing that his twin was nearing a breakdown, Finn wrapped a strong arm around Rhea's shoulders, rubbing his hand over the ball of her shoulder, much like his brother and their father before him would have done in this situation. The family watched as the Minister completed the ceremony, gently tossing dirt collected from Fergal's birthplace onto the top of the coffin before bowing his head and walking away from the grave, back toward the boat.

* * *

Eventually, Finn felt hands caress his arm as people bid goodbye and Apparated away from the scene. Lilith and Violet too left soon after, feeling rather overwhelmed with grief, opting to Apparate back to Devitt Manor once Finn and Rhea promised to return before long. Once alone, the twins stared wordlessly at their eldest sibling's grave, not even shifting an inch when the wind picked up and rain began to soak their robes. What did break them from their thoughts, however, was a soft cough from behind, prompting them to turn around.

"Sorry to disturb you and my sincerest condolences, of course, but I was hoping that we could perhaps have a chat?" The English gent from earlier asked from beneath his hood.

"I'm sorry, sir, but perhaps anoth-" Finn began but was cut off by Rhea, to his anger.

"Finn, it's okay. I asked this gentleman here tonight. I think we may be able to help each other. Although, I suppose some introductions are in order: Finn, this is Mr Lucius Malfoy. Mr Malfoy we haven't been formally introduced as yet, my name is Rhea Devitt and this is my brother Finn." The dark haired woman took a look at her brother, nearly chuckling at the gobsmacked impression on his face, briefly worrying that perhaps this truly was not the best time for the men to be introduced. Thankfully, her brother soon snapped out of his awe. Whilst at Hogwarts, Lucius' skill on the Quidditch pitch as a chaser for Slytherin had been the stuff of legend and Finn, an avid Quidditch enthusiast and a Slytherin chaser himself, had long idolised the man.

"A-Apologies, sir! It's been a trying week, you understand. Please, follow me." The Irishman led them over to a small groundsman's hut which was hidden amongst the trees. Inside the hut, the furnishings were basic but well cared for and comfortable and Lucius didn't seem offended that their meeting was to take place in such surroundings.

"Once again, you and your family have my sincerest condolences - Fergal was a bright and kind lad, for him to go the wa- anyway, it wasn't proper, not so young." Lucius had briefly worked with Fergal briefly at the Ministry in the months prior to the younger man's sudden death. He - and most of Britain's wizarding population - had read about the murder of Fergal Devitt Jr. in muggle Belfast. ' _PROMINENT, PROMISING WIZARD DEVITT JR. SLAIN BY MUGGLES_ ' proclaimed one of the more Dark Lord sympathetic publications before detailing how, just two years after the death of Fergal Devitt Sr. as the result of an Order of the Phoenix raid gone awry, Fergal Devitt Jr. had been fatally wounded by some mysterious muggle device whilst out in muggle Belfast on Ministry business which left a series of deep hole shaped wounds in his chest and abdomen. Needless to say, the pureblood society, or at least the Dark Lord supporting purebloods, had been somewhat appalled and shaken by the news. "When your sister wrote to me, Mr Devitt, I didn't hesitate to respond and I would've attended his burial without her invitation, although I felt somewhat more at ease knowing I had your family's blessing to be here."

"Thank you for coming here tonight, Lucius, your support means a lot. However, I must confess I'm in the dark as to what you and my sister have been discussing. I wasn't even aware that she had owled you," Finn explained, feeling a little sheepish still.

"I think it's best that I allow your sister to explain." Sighing slightly, Rhea put down the cup of tea that she had poured for herself.

"As I said earlier, I believe that we are in a position to help each other - no, Finn, let me finish. I know you're angry, Finn. We all are - even Violet's furious that the Ministry allowed our brother to go out unprotected and unaware of the danger. And that's just Fergal, never mind about what they let happen to our father! But we're just one family, a very wealthy and influential family granted, but it's not enough. Which brings me to you, Mr Malfoy. Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken, sir, but I believe you are a part of an organisation, dedicated to bringing about reform to our government, to ensure things like this do not happen again - no matter the cost. Is this correct?"

"Before I confirm or deny anything, Miss Devitt, I must have an oath that this information will not be divulged beyond the three of us here tonight." Seeing the twins agree, Lucius smiled slightly before continuing. "In that case, then yes, Miss Devitt - you are correct." Hearing this, Rhea performed a small fist pump, although she quickly stopped when she remembered whose company she was in.

"Then, I have a proposition for you both..."

* * *

 **Hi guys! I was inspired to write this by a friend of mine, you know who you are! I'm a bit of a melting pot of nerdiness so there may be a few Easter Eggs of sorts in and around my works - let me know in the reviews if you spot them!**

 **I hope to update this soon although being in my Honours year of my degree and working on my literature review and god knows how many lab reports, I can't guarantee when that will happen - I will try my best though.**

 **Let me know if you enjoyed this first chapter, either in the reviews or my private message! I have made a Tumblr blog for this fic so please, feel free to check that out at blogagentsofchaos - I'll be using it to post snippets, character aesthetics and the like!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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